As shown in FIG. 1, according to 3G WCDMA (Third Generation Wideband Code Division Multiple Access), in communicating via wireless communication, a mobile user equipment (UE) 18 interfaces with a UTRAN (universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network) Node B 17 (also sometimes called a base station) over a so-called Uu interface. The UTRAN Node B in turn communicates with a UTRAN radio network controller (RNC) 11 over a so-called Iub interface, and the RNC communicates with a core network (CN) entity, either a mobile switching center (MSC) or a serving GPRS (general packet radio system) support node (SGSN), over a so-called Iu interface, and also communicates with other RNCs over a so-called Iur interface.
The Iu interface is more specifically either an Iu circuit-switched interface IuCS between a UTRAN RNC and an MSC, or an Iu packet-switched interface IuPS between a UTRAN RNC and an SGSN.
According to the prior art, signaling in an uplink by a wireless terminal to a radio access network (RAN) for high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) conveys for example HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat request) related information and channel quality feedback. In release 99 of UTRAN, all signaling between a UE and a RAN takes place in the radio resource control (RRC) protocol level (in layer 3 of the WCDMA protocol stack), and is terminated (in uplink) in the radio network controller (RNC) serving the UE, i.e. the SRNC. UE transmission (i.e. uplink) can be scheduled by using a transport format combination control (TFCC) message, which can indicate a rate and other parameters defining a configuration, and which is signaled by the RRC protocol. Such a TFCC message can be sent without an explicit time reference for immediate effect, or instead an explicit activation time can be included for the configuration indicated in the message. In both cases the message is originated by the RNC serving the UE (i.e. the SRNC).
A UE would want to increase its data rate if its uplink buffer is filling up. Alternatively, if the uplink buffer is emptying, the UE may be able to provide adequate service delay with a decreased data rate.
What is needed is more flexible control than what is provided using the RNC for scheduling UE transmissions for high speed packet access, control that might be described as distributed radio resource control, i.e. e.g. radio resource control terminated in a Node B (the terminology for the entity most closely resembling a base station in a second generation radio access network), and within the limits set by the SRNC for the UE inside which the Node B can schedule UE transmissions for high speed packet access. (The control here is said to be distributed because a UE can be in communication with more than one Node B at the same time, and so control that is terminated in a Node B is actually control terminated in possibly a plurality of Node Bs, as opposed to the sole SRNC, and so is distributed.) What is further needed is a way to integrate signaling for such flexible control in a channel structure currently specified for release 5 (Rel'5) of the 3GPP (third generation partnership program) specification, a channel structure such as the HSDPA channel structure. More specifically, what is further needed is a fast uplink signaling scheme where a UE is able to transmit rate information with minimum uplink code resources (in terms of multicode, i.e. in terms of code resources operating in parallel to provide different communication channels).